Irish History - Jan. 27 - Feb. 2

Here is your Irish history lesson for this week.

January 27
1885 - Charles Stewart Parnell turns the first sod for the West Clare Railway
1944 - Birth of Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, founder of NI Peace Movement
1975 - Mother Mary Martin, founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, dies in Drogheda
1999 - The peace process and the IRA ceasefire are thrown into chaos following the mysterious death of ex-Provo killer turned supergrass Eamon Collins
2000 - Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams indicates that the IRA will not deliver arms ahead of the Ulster Unionists’ February deadline.

January 28
1610 - The crown and the Irish Society of London, a consortium of city companies, agree to carry out the plantation of Derry (hence Londonderry), Coleraine and part of Tyrone
1635 - The City of London and the Irish Society of London are found guilty of mismanagement and neglect of Derry/Londonderry plantation; they are sentenced to a fine of £70,000 and forfeiture of Derry/Londonderry property
1742 - Clotworthy Skeffington, 2nd Earl of Massereene, is born in Co. Antrim
1786 - By charter, the Irish Academy becomes the Royal Irish Academy
1807 - Birth in Co. Wexford of Sir Robert McClure, polar explorer
and discoverer of the North-West Passage
1818 - The Iberno-Celtic Society is founded to preserve and publish the best ancient Irish literature
1852 - Louis Brennan, inventor, is born in Castlebar, Co. Mayo
1892 - Birth in Limerick of David Mary Tidmarsh , WWI Ace
1873 - Patrick Malley is killed by his son William Malley at Calla, a remote district of Errismore Co. Galway. J.M. Synge based his story The Playboy Of The Western World on the tragedy
1877 - George Fitzmaurice, Irish Renaissance playwright, is born
1939 - Death of William Butler Yeats
1941 - The Emergency Powers Act provides for the censorship of press messages to places outside the Free State
1941 - Birth of Fublin artist, George Potter
1967 - Helena Moloney, republican and trade unionist, dies in Dublin.
1981 - Daniel O’Donnell makes his first professional appearance, at a club in Thurles as part of his sister Margo’s band
1993 - The IRA bombs Harrods for the third time in 20 years. Four people are injured
2000 - Death of well known Irish actor, Tony Doyle, star of popular programmes such as Ballykissangel and The Riordans
2000 - Nobel Peace laureate, John Hume, issues a plea to the IRA for a last minute gesture on decommissioning to ensure the Northern Ireland peace process does not founder
2001 - Mighty Munster moves a step closer to Heineken European Cup rugby glory when they defeat Biarritz 38 29 in the quarter final Photo credit: Des Barry
2002 - Winds of up to 90mph leave 3,000 homes in the west and north-west without power supply for several hours
2003 - It is announced that actor Peter O’Toole, nominated seven times for an Oscar for his work in films as diverse as the historical epic Lawrence of Arabia and the nostalgic comedy My Favourite Year, will receive an honorary Academy Award at this year’s Oscar ceremonies.
2007 - Sinn Féin ardfheis votes overwhelmingly in favour of a leadership motion expressing support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Speaking moments after the vote is taken, party President Gerry Adams describes the decision as "truly historic" and says the potential had been created to change the political landscape of the island "forever."

January 29
1768 - Oliver Goldsmith's The Good-Natured Boy is first performed at London's Covent Garden
1794 - Archibald Hamilton Rowan, United Irishman, tried on charge of distributing seditious paper
1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) is formed
1976 - Explosions rock London's West End. One person is injured. The IRA later takes responsibility
1998 - The British government bows to pressure and announces a new judicial inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry on January 30, 26 years ago
1998 - Former Taoiseach Jack Lynch is rushed to Accident and Emergency at the Meath Hospital, Dublin shortly before 10pm. His condition is described as not life-threatening
1999 - The future of the Apple computer plant in Cork is thrown into doubt with the news that up to 600 jobs are expected to be lost
1999 - One of the youngest members of the Church of Ireland, Rev. Canon William Paul Colton, is elected Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Roy Warke
2001 - Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor pulls out of the running for the next General Election
2002 - Rock superstars U2 battle to save their Dublin recording studios from being pulled to the ground. The millionaire musicians tell a hearing at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin that the musical heritage of their Hanover Quay site should be enough to save it from demolition.

January 30
1845 - Birth of Kitty O'Shea, mistress and later, the wife of Parnell
1859 - Edward Martyn, playwright, co-founder of Irish Literary Theatre, and Sinn Féin president, is born in Tulira, Co. Galway
1864 - The National Gallery of Ireland opens
1865 - Birth of John Hughes, sculptor, in Dublin
1900 - The Irish Party reunites ten years after it split
1920 - Tomás MacCurtain is elected Lord Mayor of Cork for Sinn Féin
1947 - Jim Larkin, Irish labor leader dies
1972 - In what is to become known as Bloody Sunday, the British Army kills 13 civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside district of Londonderry. A 14th marcher later dies of his injuries
1984 - Death of Luke Kelly, lead vocalist and 5-string banjo member of the Dubliners
1990 - Haughey resigns as Taoiseach
1998 - Relatives of those killed during the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry's Bogside, gather to remember their dead. It is a ritual observed every year, but this year it is given extra poignancy by the announcement of a new inquiry into the killing of 14 unarmed civilians by the Parachute Regiment
1998 - Thousands participate in a united peace rally to protest at recent sectarian killings
1998 - Buried in the sand at Lahinch for almost 100 years, the ship-wrecked Elizabeth McClean emerges to allow a salvage operation to take its valuable cargo. The 58-foot schooner, laden down with Liscannor stone, sank off the Clare coast in 1904, bound for Glasgow
2000 - Three RUC officers are injured and another man is in serious condition after mobs attack them in Derry and Belfast
2002 - Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that Dubliners have more money to spend than everyone else in Ireland with people in Laois, Offaly and Kerry having the least
2002 - Publicans warn Health Minister Micheál Martin not to proceed with a proposed ban on smoking in pubs after he announces changes to tough anti-tobacco laws, which will allow him to ban smoking in all or part of licensed premises
2003 - Vintners claim that next year's ban on smoking in pubs will be unworkable and accuse Health Minister Micheál Martin of overreacting.

January 31
1800 - William Pitt, 'the younger', Prime Minister of Britain, advocates the union of Britain and Ireland
1864 - Birth of Matilda Knowles, botanist
1881 - Anna Parnell sets up the Committee of the Ladies' Land League in Dublin
1913 - The Ulster Volunteer Force is founded by the Unionist Council, posing a threat to the legitimate government
1953 - The Princess Victoria, a British Railways car ferry steamer, bound for Larne in Northern Ireland, sinks in the Irish Sea in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of 128 passengers and crew. Among the passengers who perish are the Northern Ireland Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Major J. M. Sinclair, and Sir Walter Smiles, the Ulster Unionist MP for North Down
1998 - Two men are arrested as they transfer cannabis resin with an estimated valued of £5 million into a vehicle in a wooded area near Cahir, Co Tipperary
1999 - The end of an era in maritime history is reached as the high-tech world takes over from the old, manually-operated morse code radio services. For over 100 years, the dot-dash-dot system operated by radio officers served shipping well, but is now superseded by a state-of-the-art communications network. Marine Minister Michael Woods marks the historic occasion at at Valentia Coast Radio Station, Co. Kerry, as the use of Morse ends in this country, Belgium, Denmark and Iceland
1999 - Irish American business tycoon, Jay Michael Cashman splashes out a reported £250,000 to tie the knot with his film producer sweetheart, Christy Jean Scott, in a glittering ceremony in the 15th-century ruined Franciscan Abbey. It is the first wedding in the abbey in 500 years
2000 - Seventeen fishermen from a blazing Spanish trawler off the Clare coast are rescued by the Irish Coast Guard
2000 - President Bill Clinton and Northern Ireland peace envoy George Mitchell are among those nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
2003 - The coast guard remains on standby off the north-west coast for a major pollution incident as damage to the Panamanian-registered Princess Eva tanker, carrying 55,000 tonnes of oil, is assessed.

February 1
1177 - John de Courcy invades Ulster and seizes Down; he defeats its king, Rory MacDonlevy, twice, even though the northern clergy use sacred relics as talismans on MacDonlevy's behalf
1315 - Edward the Bruce of Scotland and his Irish allies win the battle of Skerries in Kildare
1754 - Denis O'Neal, having been convicted of a footpad robbery and sentenced to death, is executed on this date despite an appeal to the Chief Secretary by Charles O'Neill, MP for Randalstown, to have him spared
1796 - Theobald Wolf Tone, United Irish leader, arrives in France seeking assistance
1814 - The Belfast Academical Institution - later the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, a Presbyterian college - is opened
1815 - Daniel O'Connell, having killed Norcot d'Esterre in a duel fought on this date, repudiates violence
1878 - Thomas MacDonagh, patriot, poet, critic and scholar, is born in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary
1895 - Birth of Sean Aloysius O'Fearna, better known as film director, John Ford
1925 - The Derry to Burtonport train crashes in Co. Donegal, killing 14 people
1967 - The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement is founded
1994 - The US Government breaks its policy of "censorship by visa denial" and allows Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to make a speech in New York City
1998 - Up to 40,000 people march through Derry to commemorate the 26th anniversary of Bloody Sunday
1998 - It is announced that the partial filming of the Steven Spielberg film 'Saving Private Ryan' at Curracloe beach in Co. Wexford last summer brought over £4 million to the local economy. The Normandy D-Day landings of 1944 were re-created at the beach during four weeks of filming last July and August
2002 - Thousands of commuters and motorists are stranded by freak tides, heavy wind and rain. Rush hour traffic grounds to a halt thanks to fallen trees, downed power-lines and heavy flooding
2003 - Roy Keane's controversial autobiography is nominated at British Book Awards
In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast day of St. Brigid. It is also celebrated in the Celtic nations as Imbolc - the first day of spring.

February 2
1172 - Last day King Henry II holds his court in Dublin
1172 - The Synod of Cashel: the Bishops of Ireland, under duress, pledge allegiance to Henry II of England
1806 - Birth of painter, Daniel Maclise, in Co. Cork
1880 - Charles S. Parnell addresses the U.S. Congress
1882 - Birth in Dublin of James Joyce
1882 - James Stephens, poet and novelist, is born in Dublin
1903 - Birth of Hilton Edwards, actor and producer
1918 - Former Heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan dies
1922 - James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris - on his birthday
1936 - Birth of Tony Ryan, aviation entrepreneur, in Co. Tipperary
1939 - Desmond O'Malley, Fianna Fáil politician and leader of the Progressive Democrats, is born in Co. Limerick
1972 - The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed by a furious crowd of demonstrators protesting over the shooting deaths of 13 people in Londonderry on Sunday, January 30
1998 - Terror gangs on both sides of the religious divide in the North issue threat and counter-threat as fears grow of another bloody month of sectarian slaughter
2000 - It is announced that cars in the pot holed county of Cavan are failing the National Car Test in bigger numbers than any other part of the country
2000 - The founding President of the University of Limerick, Dr Edward Walsh, is praised for his role in the development of the college at the launch of a book “University of Limerick — a Celebration” which charts the history of UL
2001 - Edna O’Brien receives a lifetime achievement award from the society for Irish writers, Irish PEN, in recognition of her work which spans 25 years
2002 - Spring tides after a full moon, driving rain, gale force southerly winds and low pressure all contribute to the highest water levels on the River Liffey in Dublin since 1924. In the liturgical calendar, today is the feast of Candlemas.

Sources: Irish Culture and Customs,
The Celtic
League, Irish
Abroad, The Wild Geese